The Guilt Trip

Overview

From Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty to Thelma and Louise, heroes of American fiction have seen the road as a conduit for freedom. However, when hopeful scientist Andy Brewster (Seth Rogen) leaves New York City with his overbearing mother, Joyce (Barbra Streisand), it's not long before he starts to view the endless miles ahead as a kind of absurd, comedic prison sentence.

That's not to say that Andy doesn't hit the highway with the best of intentions. He's about to drive across America, spruiking his prize invention — an all-natural cleaning product so safe you can drink it — when Joyce suddenly and unexpectedly confesses that she still hankers after her first love. That is, the man she dated before marrying Andy's father, who died when Andy was just eight.

Secretly locating this lost lover as an executive living in San Francisco, and harbouring a crazy plan for a romantic reunion, Andy invites his mother along on his business trip. The dramatic irony lies in Joyce's naive belief that her son simply wants to spend some time with her.

Those accustomed to Rogen's stoner brand of comedy and hilarious depictions of rage might be surprised by his appearance as a socially awkward chemist in this feelgood family comedy directed by Anne Fletcher (The Proposal, 27 Dresses). While certainly innovative and industrious as a scientist, Andy Brewster is a clumsy, unimaginative, uninspiring salesman. Many of the film's funny moments depend on Rogen's controlled portrayal of Andy's ineptness, so at odds with the corporate world in which he is desperate to make an impression.

Where Andy is self-absorbed and preoccupied with 'making it', Joyce is caring and interfering to the point of suffocation. The Guilt Trip's central concern is the development of their relationship. Rogen plays a suitably restrained, emasculated Andy to Streisand's eccentric, flapping, verbose Joyce. The contrast means that Streisand can occasionally come across as overstated. This is not helped by the tendency of Dan Fogelman's script to settle on the obvious rather than aspire to the subtle and the inclusion of a few rather formulaic and unconvincing turns in the storyline.

That said, Rogen and Streisand share a natural, comfortable-feeling chemistry, which enables some genuinely sweet moments and keeps The Guilt Trip moving along at an engaging pace.